Borrowed Time - Chapter 2 (Part 1) (Patreon)

A continued collaberation between myself, and my dear friend Firefox!

Written by Firefox 

Illustrated by Me

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She had potential, you see.

But unlike most, she lacked the means or circumstances to make the most of that potential.

Kyle’s beat up minivan sat in the driveway, a long, puffy cloud of exhaust hanging in the late-December air. Loretta knew it wasn’t really his minivan, but with the amount of dents he had put in it, she doubted his parents had any interest in reclaiming it for themselves. She had only just stepped outside when Kyle laid on the horn again in rapid bursts. She was fine with that. The less time she spent with her mobile home as a backdrop, the better. She trundled down the snow dusted steps of her porch as fast as she could, which was not very fast at all. The railings bent and creaked as she clung to them for support, rocking from side to side with each descending step. By the time she had reached the bottom, she was huffing and puffing.

It wasn’t until she was level with the minivan that she realized Kyle was not the only occupant. Her enthusiasm tanked in a heartbeat. Three of her other friends were also piled in with Kyle. 

Genevieve sat in the back seat; a chubby creamsicle-colored vixen whom, along with Katie, Loretta considered one of her best friends as well as one of her first friends. Genevieve's big, foxy ears perked as she smiled and waved enthusiastically, the wavy, deep ocean blue locks of her shoulder length, side-swept bangs bobbing before her dark green eyes. She was positively swimming in her puffy winter coat. As pleased as Loretta was to see Genevieve, the presence of her other friends meant that this outing was no longer on the border of date territory. 

Riding shotgun with Kyle wasn’t an option either. The front passenger seat was occupied by Genevieve's boyfriend, James, though the short haired, toned, and flannel-clad hare preferred Jake. He gave a shorter, less energetic wave upon noticing Loretta. The stocky, fluffy tabby behind the wheel wasn’t waving, though he did glance over his shoulder at her, from behind his long, unkempt hair, just for a split second. Loretta had been hoping for at least a wave or a smile.

"I hope he isn't angry about earlier," she worried to herself. "But if I made him lose, he probably wouldn't have driven here at all. He probably needs to focus on the road anyways... even if the van isn't moving."

“Lorrie-chaaan,” Genevieve sang as the minivan’s side door rattled open. “Happy birthdaaaaay!”

“Happy birthday,” Kyle and Jake flatly added from the front seats.

Loretta forced herself to smile, mostly for Genevieve, who seemed to be the only one making eye contact. “Thanks,” she breathlessly replied.

The fifth member of the party, counting Loretta, sat in the back seat next to Genevieve. A lanky mongoose by the name of Chloe. Loretta winced a bit as her eyes passed over Chloe, almost relieved that she hadn’t bothered to say happy birthday while she was busy staring down at her phone, furiously swiping away, hoop earrings and tightly bound ponytail swaying. She was apparently in the midst of explaining why her only true pairing was both definitive and canonical.

The minivan rocked toward Loretta as she went through the motions of boarding, one very heavy, careful step at a time. She could feel the handle on the ceiling struggle to support her weight, her chubby, feathered hand holding on as tightly as possible as she pulled herself inside. The middle seat had been left open for her, because squeezing into the back seat had proven both difficult and time consuming in the past. She turned, feeling herself brush up against just about every surface in the process, and sat back as gently as she could. The suspension bounced and creaked despite her best efforts. She had only just seated herself when the van lurched into motion. Loretta yanked the seatbelt across her middle, sucking in and pulling until the mechanism clicked.

"How's your birthday going so far?" Genevieve whispered, so not to interrupt Chloe.

Loretta strained to turn enough to meet Genevieve's eyes, managing little more than a sideways glance. "It's been um… hfff... good. So far.” She took a deep breath. “My mom made breakfast for me." 

Genevieve arched her brows. “Wooow, really? I thought you said that she never cooks. I bet it was tasty.”

“Mmhmm.” Loretta giggled softly, adding, "I think she almost burned the house down making it, though."

Genevieve was about to say something more when Chloe cut her off. "Lorrie, did you even watch the latest episode?"

"Oh, I—" Loretta whipped her head around the other way. As she struggled to get Chloe in her sights, she saw that the minivan was turning out of the trailer park. "No, I haven't." 

Chloe chuckled. "Well, I was sooo right. If you pause on just the right frame at eighteen minutes and thirty five seconds, you can totally see Miku-sama and Kogi-kun kissing in the steam from the hot-springs."

“That’s enough, Chloe,” Genevieve droned.

"They made it to Ember Falls?” Loretta murmured. “But I thought—"

"Yeah, but then Kaze destroyed the crystal—”

Genevieve loudly cleared her throat. “Chloe! Spoilers!”

“And Ryuichi wound up jumping timelines to try to salvage things and in this timeline they're still alive."

Loretta sighed and sat back in her seat, staring up at the ratty upholstery of the minivan’s ceiling.

Genevieve groaned. “Chloe, come ooon.” 

Chloe huffed, and Loretta could imagine her crossing her arms and looking away. “It’s not my fault Lorrie can’t watch the new episodes as soon as someone uploads them.”

“Neither can you!” Jake quipped, having apparently decided it was time to enter the conversation.

“Yes I can,” Chloe shot back. “I speak fluent Japanese!”

“Chloe, we all know your cousin does fan-subs.” Jake leaned around the side of his seat and added, “Also your OTP is stupid because Miku and Kogi both have canon girlfriends.”

They went back and forth a few more times, and then, as though a demonstration would somehow validate her claims, Chloe started rapid-firing in Japanese. It was one of the seven sentences she had apparently memorized for the sake of deployment in these situations. This one in particular translated, roughly, to “his leather pants are so tight that it should be illegal.”

Loretta tried her hardest to tune out the noise, closing her eyes and letting her mind wander. In less than a minute, she was daydreaming about Kyle, imagining how it would feel to be in his big, beefy arms. She sat on the corner of his bed, blushing, her shirt in a heap on the floor and his clawed fingertips carefully undoing the clasps of her bra. A shiver ran down her back as he revealed her bosom and leaned over her shoulder.

“Hey,” he said in her ear, “are you just gonna sit there or what?”

Loretta bolted upright, eyelids fluttering. She searched the interior of the minivan and found it empty. Everyone else had filed out, idling in a semicircle while giving her strange looks from a few paces away.

“Sorry,” she almost whispered, undoing the seatbelt and scooting toward the door.